1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector for connecting electric wires to each other.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,404 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,179 disclose a connector assembly with female and male housings. The male housing has a square pillar shaped hood and the female housing can fit into the hood of the male housing. A locking arm is formed on an upper surface of the female housing and can be locked to the hood for holding the housings together in a locked state. An operation portion is formed on the lock arm and can be used to deflect the lock arm so that the housings can be separated. A protection wall is erected at both sides of the locking arm in a widthwise direction to prevent an inadvertent operation of the lock arm that could separate the housings unintentionally.
The present tendency is to make connectors compact. However, it is necessary to erect the protection wall to almost the same level as the operation portion of the locking arm. Additionally, the protection walls project out laterally from side surfaces adjacent to the surface of the female housing on which the locking arm is formed. Therefore it is difficult to achieve a specified compact width of the surface of the female housing on which the locking arm is formed.
As described above, the protection walls are project laterally out. Consequently the side surface of the hood and the side surface of the protection wall become almost flush with each other when the female housing is fit in the male housing. The above-described connector has a problem in that an operator's gloves are caught in the space between the male and female housings, namely, between an end surface of an opening of the hood and a front end of the protection wall when a fit-in operation is performed. As a result, work efficiency deteriorates. Such being the case, measures for solving the problem are demanded.